A Montessori Kid

To say that I have been enlightened by our new adventure at Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori would be an understatement.  A year ago, I would not have dreamed of letting Elizabeth use the iron.  But now that our household and school life is under the direction of the Montessori Philosophy, interesting events like this happen daily around here.  Elizabeth asked if she could iron the napkins. Let me emphasis, she ASKED if she could iron the napkins practically begged me. I instantly shot off an excuse.  "It's really hot today. Do we really want to make the house hotter?"  Then I thought there is something going on inside Elizabeth that I am not aware of that is asking her to iron these napkins.  Just give up the control.  That is what it is about.  Following my kids instead of imposing my parent agenda on them.  This kind of focused work does wonders for her.  When things start to get hairy around here, I will think of a focused work we could do together.  Not only are they happy they get to help with an 'adult' chore, they are ready for the rest of the day.  They want to be a part of what we are doing.  Toys don't bring them satisfaction.  We all love how we feel after a good days work.  Children feel the same way.  Here is a great website for some ideas of what children really are capable of For Small Hands.  If you have small children, you will be inspired!

Resurfacing....

Wow, it has been almost a year to the day since my last blog.  I just got the feeling I needed to blog so here I am.  Impossible to catch up on the last year of life.  However, my husband and I just celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary.  It also happened to be the day of my daughters Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy surgery. Elizabeth and I spent the day and night at the hospital. A romantic way to celebrate, I know.  The 7th year of marriage is marked by copper and wool.  Since I didn't think I had time to knit a sweater, I started brainstorming some ideas with Pennies.  Here is what I did...

It is the birth year of our children and the year we were married.  I used a steel letter stamping set and stamped "Lucky Us" on a brass plate.  It was super fun to make.  I found my materials at AC Moore and Michaels.  (Michaels jewelry selection is amazing, I could do some serious damage in that place)

Here are these two monkeys a year later.  Elizabeth is going into 4th grade, and Jude is heading into his 3rd year of preschool.  (Poor guy will have another year of preschool before he reaches the required age of 5 to start Kindergarten)  And, of course, I am teaching where they go to school.  It is a brilliant Montessori school in our area. Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori School It amazes me that a hundred year old philosophy is considered one of the most progressive in the world.  I start my official training to become a certified Montessori teacher in just a short couple of weeks.  I have to say the nerd in me is excited to dive in and absorb all things Montessori for the next year.  Even if it means giving up every Saturday from 8am-5pm.  It will be well worth the invested time.  So with a fluttering in my tummy, I am posting this for the first time in a year.  Hopefully, I will remember how to do this and what makes a good post sooner than later.